Forry Gets the Ben of the Doubt

Maya has a great-uncle, named Uncle Forrest, who is Maya's Granny's brother. Today he is a very tall man, but once upon a time, when Granny was nine years old and still Joy (just a little too old to be Joy Baby any longer), Forrest was four and not so tall (although he had a full head of hair) and called Forry. Well, sometimes he was called Forry. Other times he was called For Ward, Boy, Boy. Because he was such a boy! He was daring and brave and always on the go. Quite a boy to love and be proud of, whether you were his parent or his sister!

At that time, Joy and Forry lived with their Little Mama and Daddy, for this was right after Little Mama had married Daddy, who took care of them all after their Papa died. So, there were the four of them, living out in the country near Stockton, and Little Mama and Forry and Joy were learning all about Daddy, and Daddy was learning all about them. There were still things they didn't know about each other, but they were all working at it.

One day Joy did something that Daddy thought she shouldn't have done. Granny would tell you what it was, but after all of these years (53!), she doesn't remember. And when Daddy mentioned it to her, and asked her what had happened, and she explained it to him, he said "It sounds to me like maybe you didn't realize that you aren't supposed to do that. This time I will give you the benefit of the doubt, but don't do it again." And Joy promised that she wouldn't, and that would have been that, except that Forry had been listening, and he (remember he was only four) wanted to have whatever Joy had, so he said, "Daddy, can I have some of that ben of the doubt too?"

Then Daddy was well and truly puzzled, but only for a minute. Because, if there was one thing you could say about Daddy, it was that he had a feeling for young children, and he never wanted one to feel left out or cheated. For Daddy had been poor when he was a boy (at the last turn of the century) and so he knew what it was like to do without while others had things, and he knew that is especially hard for a child. So, he thought and thought, and he said, "Yes, indeed you can." And he went inside and brought out a bowl of potato chips for Joy and one for Forry. And they ate them all up, just like any child would do. And to this day, this is one of Granny's favorite stories, because of her brother wanting to be like her and have what she had, and her Daddy taking care that a little boy didn't get left out.